Monthly Archives

July 2020

How blower maniacs start wars

By | landscape maintenance, Landscaping Equipment | No Comments

Don’t start wars

Not too long ago, I walked home to my condo complex on a windy day and a blower maniac stopped me dead in my tracks. The dude emerged from his complex across the street blowing debris into the middle of the street. Once there, the mess was at the mercy of the wind. Some of it crossed over to my complex and some of it went back. Back to where it should have been blown into a pile and collected. The way all good neighbors do it.

I waited and I waited, the dude went back in, sat down and cracked open a beer now that his work was done. Since I have a rule about not picking fights at the end of the day, I went home shaking my head at the amateurish work I had just witnessed.

It just so happens that our company maintains my complex so I instructed our crew, like any good supervisor would, to make some blower “mistakes” on their next visit.

It happens a lot

This kind of poor clean-up blowing happens a lot. A few weeks later I was working at my commercial sites on a Saturday morning. When I looked up from my pruning, I saw another blower maniac. This dude was in the middle of the road without a safety vest, which is extremely unsafe. His blower was hanging from one shoulder, as if he was in a rush. Worse still, he was blowing debris towards my site with amazing resolve. Lucky for him, I was far away and busy. I’m also not in the habit of picking fights. I take numbers and bring my blower over later.

I’m absolutely certain this is the same geek who blows leafy debris onto my clean sites in fall.

Work like a professional

There is no excuse for blowing debris into the road, making it someone else’s problem. It’s no joke. Online I read about a sad case from the USA where a motorcyclist was killed after crashing on grass clippings blown into the road.

Always blow debris into piles, collect it and dispose of it with your green waste. The only time you can tolerate some debris in the road is on super windy days.

Blow along your curbs without stepping too far into the road and definitely wear a high-visibility vest. Put the blower on both shoulders the way the manufacturer intended it to be used.

Always be a good neighbor. I know where you work.

How to quickly upgrade tired beds

By | landscape maintenance, weeds | No Comments

The problem

This same scenario replays itself over and over: I am on site to execute a simple lawn cut and the homeowner has questions, like what to do about his tired beds. Can I help? Of course I can! I love to help and solve people’s problems. It’s a simple two-step process which requires a bit of time and money.

The front beds were weedy and had so little soil in them they were showing landscape fabric. This made them extremely difficult to weed but with the right tools, it was a quick two-hour session.

Very few people enjoy garden weeding. This applies equally to homeowners and professional landscapers. But Red Seal Vas loves side-hustling and his kids often require food and new apps. I will weed for cash.

Weeds on top of landscape fabric.

Weed like a pro

Let’s get this straight: weeding is done with tools and on your feet, unless you’re picking huge trophy weeds. Huge weeds must be hand picked.

Normally I like to use a four prong cultivator to uproot weeds and then a rake to remove the green waste. I try to remove very little soil but I don’t always succeed. In this case, the homeowner’s landscape fabric made cultivation difficult so I used a Dutch hoe to slice the weeds off.

Now, what do you do once the beds are clean? The answer takes us to step two.

Nicely weeded.

Step two

In step two we had soil delivered from Meadows Landscape Supply in Pitt Meadows, BC. Two yards of lawn and garden soil mix delivered to the drive way. The soil will cost you roughly $30/yard, plus delivery. Warning: the delivery isn’t cheap.

I’m proud to report that my two yard estimate was dead on; and so was my installation time. Remember, I’m doing a side-hustle after hours, not a regular by the hour job, so I quoted a price for the install and banged it in 75 minutes.

The soil will settle but everything got covered in a few inches of fresh soil giving us an instant dark, sharp look. The plants will also appreciate it; and any future weeding should be easier. And the weeds will come back, eventually. Wind and animals import seeds all the time. But for now, any weeds I failed to uproot are buried under fresh soil and deprived of the light they need to thrive.

Fresh soil.

Easy upgrades

Don’t be afraid to upgrade your garden beds. All you need is some tools, time and a bit of cash. In this project, it took me two hours to weed the beds and 75 minutes to install the soil. And now when the homeowner comes home, he’s greeted by dark and fresh-looking beds. And I can afford to buy new apps for my teenagers.

On the simple beauty of lawn mulching

By | Lawn Care | No Comments

Simple pleasures

I know this photo doesn’t look like much. It’s a commercial site lawn with too many weeds in it but this photo makes me smile! Why? Because I remembered to mulch the lawn.

Since I don’t always get to mulch lawns it was nice to do it at this commercial site where I’m in charge. So, I locked the mower in its mulch position and started mowing.

Good or bad?

Now, I know that some lawn “experts” online disagree with the idea that leaving grass clippings in the lawn is free fertilizer. I’ve run into a few on sites like Quora.com and they gave me a lot of unsolicited-but always appreciated!- feedback.

Don’t worry about them. Leaving grass clippings in the lawn is good for your lawn.

It also makes mowing much easier because you don’t have to stop to empty your mower bag; and there aren’t any green waste disposal issues. That made me very happy on this early Saturday morning. I just mowed without stopping and I didn’t have to worry about tarp collection. Good progress makes me happy when I’m not working by the hour. The morning sun also helps.

Of course, dry conditions are best for mulching. Don’t do it in wet conditions because the grass will get clumpy and it will stick to your mower deck. It will also clump up on top of your lawn and ruin the neat look we are after.

Mulch on dry days when you barely even notice the clippings.

As we slowly exit July, our West Coast lawns are slowing down and, where there isn’t any irrigation, they may go dormant. So, this is a perfect time to try lawn mulching if your mower model allows for it. You’ll have more fun and your lawn will thank you.

Testing Sellstrom premium ear muffs

By | Reviews | No Comments

It’s loud out there

Landscapers are constantly exposed to noise from mowers and small engines so hearing protection is mandatory. All landscapers in British Columbia are required to wear hearing protection and, in the field, I insist on it. And yet, many times young dudes opt to keep in their headphones which just adds to the noise.

As I make my way through my 21st season in the field, I notice my hearing slipping ever so slightly. One hint is people telling me to stop yelling. So, hearing protection is a must for me. Of course, I have a problem on very busy days; I tend to leave my ear muffs on site or in someone’s truck. This is why I found myself at a safety store recently looking for new ear muffs.

Sellstrom

I had two choices: buy the usual 3M Peltor set for C$40 or the shiny orange Sellstrom pair in the $20 range. I tried the new Sellstrom 427 Premium Ear Muff just so I could answer this one burning question in this blog post.

Can you protect your hearing and save money at the same time?

Let’s see.

Features

I love the shiny orange color look of the Sellstrom ear muffs and how it matches my company uniform.

The headband is made with soft EVA foam and very comfortable.

By far the best feature is the “slim” design which makes the ear muffs comfortable and ultra-lightweight. I love that the unit folds! This makes it easy for me to throw into my work bag.

Nicely folded!

NRR

The Sellstrom 427 Premium Ear Muff has a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) of 27 dB. So, does that help you when you operate a lawn mower (90 dB) for many hours?

This is the calculation you must perform. 27 dB – 7/2= 10. This means that your actual noise exposure while using a 90 dB lawn mower is 80 dB. That’s not great.

Conclusion

If you care about your hearing, don’t go cheap on ear protection. The Sellstrom 427 Premium Ear Muffs have a low dB rating of 27. The 3M Peltor set costs double but it has a rating of 101 dB. Spend the extra cash on a better set. I will switch back to Peltor as soon as I lose my Sellstrom set somewhere…..